New books of the past few weeks include new novels from Alan Dean Foster, John Meaney, Elizabeth Haydon, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Terry Pratchett, and a new collection from Anne McCaffrey. Plus you'll see some sneak previews of some of the forthcoming books in the new year.

My personal reading lately has been rather varied. Here are a couple of titles I can recommend...

Minority Report by Philip K. Dick (Pantheon Books, 110 pages, 2002, USA & Canada)
The movie tie-in edition of this classic short story by PKD caught my eye mainly because of the book design. It opens like a cop's flip notebook; you get a preview of what's coming on the next page; the font used on the cover (and some of the interior, such as the preview words) is appropriate to the story, as some of the letters are incomplete, giving a sense that you may not be reading it right. So much of it is so clever, and it's refreshing to see such thought go into the design of a book to make it truly unique and to make it fit the style and content of the story. The story itself is very much a PKD theme, featuring two of his most favourite elements: precognition and paranoia. The film adaptation, although true to the feeling of the story, is significantly different in the details. It's a good story, if a little weak in the ending, and if you don't already have a copy in some collection somewhere on your shelves, you could do a lot worse than to pick up this highly original edition. SF Site Review of the Spielberg motion picture.

Terrapin Or by Tilper Manaday (Lithodendron, trade, 2002 USA)
The full title of this novel is Terrapin, Or Captain Megaloman and His Trusty Sidekick Squidley Save the World Once Again. How could I resist? The absolute worst thing about this book is that it's probably doomed to the obscurity that goes hand-in-hand with independent publishing. That's the worst thing about this book, because it's such a fun read and it doesn't deserve to fade away into oblivion. It's a charmingly odd, witty, hopeful novel. The second worst thing about this book is that, because it'll likely sink into obscurity, it will probably never see another edition. And that's a shame because Tilper Manaday, author of this quirky book and an even odder covering letter that accompanied the review copy, is obviously a writer of some talent, and one who could, with some guidance from an experienced editor, shine even brighter. The current edition could certainly have benefited even from a good copyedit. Nevertheless, it's still worth reading. Check out the cover letter for info on where to find your own copy.

(Books are listed alphabetically by author. Only books received are noted.)